Little By Little
by ritabites
Summary: AU: Based on Pride and Prejudice the classic tale of love, loathing and terrible first impressions. The summer Rae is 16 she is released from the mental ward back into the madness of her hometown. She has to deal with her mothers antics, her friends obsession with the new guy Chop and the unbearable presence of his best friend Finn.


**AN: So this is an AU, certain things are different in this version of the show, for instance Rae is also best friends with Izzy but hopefully it will be self explanatory.** **Shout out to the lovely Sarah (rebelfell on tumblr - gooooo follow!) for being the worlds best beta.**

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Rae Earl's mother could not be on time to save her sodding life.

That is why, 20 minutes into her new found freedom, Rae Earl was still sat on the steps outside the mental ward and not, you know, frolicking through meadows or whatever. In fact, freedom was not turning out quite as she anticipated. When you're stuck in a hospital for four months you tend to idealize a lot of the things about the "real world" that actually suck. For instance, in her fantasy she had always emerged through the hospital doors with George Michael blasting (Freedom '90, of course) and doves bursting out from behind her in slow motion.

Reality was kind of a bitch.

A drizzly, grey morning awaited her in the shit hole that everyone called Lincolnshire. She'd had a minor freak out when she realized she was actually out, all by herself again. This time she had Tix to call though, who rather unhelpfully told her to count to ten. That was complete bollocks, as nothing made Rae feel better - not even binging or cutting herself, which was the reason she was in the hospital in the first place. She realized she just had to deal with it, sit on the steps and wait to see where her life would take her now.

Her mum's car screeched as it pulled up beside her, clipping the curb and jolting her mum forward in her seat. Rae winced and did a now all too familiar prayer to make it out of the drive home alive. She ignored the horn beeping and took her time as she lugged her suitcases towards the car. Lord knows her mum had taken her's in getting there. She plonked her cases in the back and slid into the car, trying to face away from her mum as much as possible.

Unfortunately her silent treatment didn't last longer than twenty seconds.

"Fucking hell mum, Robson and Jerome?" Her voice dripped with contempt.

"Eh, don't get smart with me young lady. When you learn to drive, you can pick the music."

She rolled the window down as they drove back into Stamford, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it at a red light. Then, out of the corner of her eye, Rae spotted the last two people she wanted to see her in that moment. Chloe and Izzy.

They could be loosely be described as her best friends, though they had grown apart in the last year seeing as mental illness hadn't made her feel too sociable. The two of them were walking down the street, looking like models from some annoying ad campaign Rae secretly envied. It only took a second for them to spot her, Izzy's heart-shaped sunglasses flying off her face as she jumped and clapped. Chloe waved and quickly ran towards the car, knocking on the window and gestured for her to get out. Rae gave her mum a warning glance before sliding out the car and into her friend's open arms.

"Oh my gosh, Rae! I didn't know you were back from France!" Izzy said, apparently as bouncy and lovely as ever.

"Me either, why didn't you tell us?"

"France? ….Oh yeah, France. I just got back. Today, actually."

"We'll, we're glad you're back anyway," Chloe said.

They all did that awkward smile-and-nod thing when you're not quite sure how to continue a conversation, and when her mum started hooting her horn Rae thought it best to go and save as much face as possible. She was reaching for the door handle when Chloe pulled her back.

"Listen, Rae, why don't you come down to the pub with me and Izzy tonight? We just met this guy Chop who just moved here. And he had some really fit friends." She did that suggestive eyebrow wiggle thing that always drove Rae crazy.

"Er, yeah alright, I'll met you guys there at six?" She wasn't crazy about the idea but hey, it beat sitting around watching Blind Date with her mum.

Izzy squealed and hugged her another time, "Yay! See you then."

Rae climbed back into the car and reached into the glove box for the blue ribbons her mum always kept there.


End file.
